Jan 2019 – Iran Awakening
Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi Book Group 2 – Jan, 2019 Throughout an extraordinary career as a lawyer, writer, activist, and dissident, Shirin Ebadi has spoken out clearly and strongly for her native Iran—and her voice has resonated far beyond its borders. Best known as a dedicated human rights advocate who defends women and children […]
Nov 2018 – Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee Book Group 1 – November 2018 Pachinko is a story of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family’s fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan, exiled from a home they never knew. Profoundly moving and gracefully told, Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early […]
Oct, 2018 -The Amazing Racist by Chhimi Tenduf-La
Book Group 2 – October 201 This is the first novel by the author and his second novel was released in 2015. Eddie Trusted, an English schoolteacher in Colombo, wants to spend his life with Menaka Rupasinghe, a vibrant Sri Lankan beauty. Menaka’s orthodox father wants Menaka to marry someone of the same race, religion […]
Oct, 2018 – Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
Book Group 1 Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a multi-generational saga mostly set in China that deals with more than 60 years of the country’s history, starting with the 1949 Communist Revolution moving onto the Cultural Revolution (1966) and climaxing with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. In between these major events in […]
Sep 2018 The Travelling Cat Chronicles
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa Book Group 1 – September 28, 2018 Nana, the stray cat, landed on his feet. From home on the bonnet of a silver van in a Tokyo parking lot to the home of Satoru, his life was definitely looking up. In a new ‘international bestseller’ Hiro Arikawa has […]
Aug 2018 Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Book Group 2 Crazy Rich Asians is about three super rich pedigreed Chinese families. When Nicholas Young, who is the heir to one of the massive fortunes in Asia, brings home his ABC (American born Chinese girlfriend) to the wedding of the season, it generates gossip, scheming and drama. […]
Aug 2018 The Story of a Brief Marriage
The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam Book Group 1 The title of this tale brings assorted images and questions to mind: a young couple perhaps? (An affair and poof, it’s over?) A middle-aged couple decide to marry, but their union is upended by disease (or even worse…)? In actuality, The Story of […]
June 2018 – The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon Group 1 – June 2018 The Dressmaker of Khair Khana follows the lives of Kamila Sidiqi and her family during the years of Taliban occupation of Kabul in the 1990s. With women banned from working and required to remain at home, through sheer tenacity and ingenuity Kamila […]
May 2018 – When the Elephant Dance
When the Elephant Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe Book Group 1 – May 2018 Tess Uriza Holthe’s When the Elephants Dance is set in the dying days of World War II as the Japanese and Americans battle for possession of the Philippines. The ‘elephants’ of course are the Japanese who have occupied the land for […]
Apr 2018 Ghost Month
Ghost Month by Ed Lin Book Group 2 – April, 2018 Ghost Month by Ed Lin is set in contemporary Taipei and stimulated our lively discussion this morning. One contested point was whether we agreed with the review that claimed the book was “an ambitious, muddled tale of murder in a culture that sees itself as […]